


Glow

by PhoenixAccio



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: As A Treat!, Bioluminescence, Other, Touching, they/them captain, yes im writing unironic mgv fanfiction and i refuse to feel bad about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,161
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28104966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoenixAccio/pseuds/PhoenixAccio
Summary: The Captain had resigned themself to the fact that they'd likely be staying there until they eventually turned and had to be put down, if nobody decided to be efficient and get things done ahead of schedule. They would have done the same, if someone else were in their place.
Relationships: Reeve/The Captain (Metal Gear)
Kudos: 1





	Glow

After their first night in the cell as judged by the brightness of the crack in the wall, the Captain had resigned themself to the fact that they'd likely be staying there until they eventually turned and had to be put down, if nobody decided to be efficient and get things done ahead of schedule. The Captain mostly hoped they wouldn't, because they didn't particularly want to die, but if it was decided that it would be easier to just solve this particular problem before it properly became one the Captain would understand. 

They still didn't really want to die, despite everything, but there wasn't much they could do either way. They understood. They might do the same were another in their place. They spent most of their time curled by the wall, or watching the dust motes and fine sand in the air moving in gentle spirals when the crack illuminated them at just the right time of day. They even got food sometimes, even though nobody was sure they needed to eat. That was nice, they enjoyed that. Overall, it could have been worse, the Captain figured. 

It was a few days later, and nighttime (judging by the crack) when the Captain was finally met with a new distraction from the waiting. The footsteps didn't normally come that close at night. The Captain could hear whoever it was approaching the door as if to deliver food. The crack was dark, though, so that didn't make sense. The door opening to show a silhouette didn't make sense either. 

"Hello," the Captain frowned, squinting against the backlight in an attempt to make out any detail. "Aren't I quarantined?" 

The door shut without any response, and the footsteps got closer. Then a thud against the sandy floor, the visitor falling to their knees. 

"Captain," Reeve whispered, voice quiet but audibly choked. 

"Reeve," the Captain replied. "Should you be in here? I don't want to hurt you." 

"You won't hurt me," Reeve said as a breath. He sounded so certain it made the Captain's chest ache. 

"We don't know that, Reeve, that's why I'm here," they insisted, with practiced, reassuring calm. 

"You won't," Reeve repeated, and that was that. Reeve was a grown man who could make his own decisions, and the Captain... 

The Captain was weak. Human, still, for a little bit longer. 

They sat ogether in silence, leant up against the wall. The Captain ran their fingers over the crack. It was dark. A little bit of cool air came through the narrow gap to brush catlike against the Captain's fingertips. 

"I missed you," Reeve said into the dark after some time had passed. Then, correcting himself: "I _miss_ you." 

There was a pause after that. They breathed. The Captain thought. 

"I miss you too," they said after a while. 

When they woke up, Reeve wasn't there anymore. The Captain knew it wasn't a dream, because theirs were never so solidly formed, but it almost could have been. 

The next night was the same as the very first, as all those before the previous had been. Mostly sleep, and amorphous dreams of words he didn't quite catch and blurred smears of coloured light. The next after that was the same. 

On the third night, the footsteps came back. 

"I'm sorry," was Reeve's greeting this time. 

"It's okay," replied the Captain, not sure what they were forgiving. Knowing they meant it anyways. 

"I'm making this harder." Reeve sat on the floor by the Captain's side again. "For myself. For you." 

"It's okay," the Captain repeated. "It's nice to have company." 

They didn't speak for the rest of the night. Reeve was gone again in the morning. 

Reeve visited a few more times after that. Not every night, but a few. The Captain thought maybe he came when he was lonely. The Captain hoped visiting helped. 

The next night Reeve was there, it was the second night in a row. The moon might have been full, the Captain thought, because a little bit of light filtered through the crack where there was usually none. Their hand was resting on the floor where the light shone through, and the Captain was watching it. When Reeve sat down, he sat down on the other side of the crack. He paused, still, and then reached out as if he was trying to outpace regret to let his fingertips rest against the Captain's, just for a moment. 

The feeling was very intense after not being touched for so long, the Captain observed. Almost burning, although not unpleasantly. They kept very still as if they might scare Reeve off with sudden movement. After a moment more of touching, Reeve pulled his hand back. 

The Captain would have been somewhat disappointed were it not for the sudden distraction. 

"Your skin is glowing," Reeve said aloud. 

"Yes," the Captain agreed. "It hasn't done that before, I'm not sure why it is now." 

"Oh," Reeve replied, then: "Roll up your sleeve?" 

The Captain obliged, interested to see what Reeve wanted to do. 

Once their sleeve was out of the way, Reeve brushed his fingertips gently down the Captain's arm. In the his hands wake, the Captain's skin glowed a gentle blue that branched intricately through webs of capillaries. 

"Oh," commented the Captain. 

"Touch," Reeve confirmed. 

It was probably something to do with the nanomachines in the Captain's bloodstream, but it did look pretty. The Captain was glad to have that at least before they lost themself to the hordes of wanderers roaming the sand, or to wherever one liked to believe the dead went. The Captain hoped it would be nothing, because that sounded better than infinite existence, happy or not. 

The Captain watched the glow fade from their arm with Reeve, then watched a second time when Reeve did it again. It would be nice if dying felt like that. 

The next time the Captain glowed, the light was in their lips, and in the false silhouetted outlines along cheekbones that reminded the Captain of eyespots on a moth before fading gently to flesh. The light was in the palms of their hands until they woke in the morning and Reeve was gone like always. 

The Captain did not die in that room, not that night, and not later on, nor did they wander the sands like so many. The Captain did none of the things they had expected. They could have, though. They wouldn't have minded. 

Perhaps Reeve would be lonely, though, so the Captain would stick around a while longer, for his sake. 

The glow was gone, now, their blood cleaned of the machines that produced it. That was alright, though, because the Captain did not need the light to know where Reeve had touched. Reeve could always simply remind him, anyways, should the Captain ever forget. 

They sat together a lot. Quiet, like before. It was nice, the Captain thought, to be quiet together in the sun.


End file.
